I have always said one of the best things about my job is the opportunity to work with a diverse group of musicians. Let's be real for a second, we all know musicians are the best people on the planet. The bond between such a diverse group of people that we all share as drummers is something not seen anywhere else. When you see a rock drummer making a stank face and smashing floor toms, you know they are feeling the same rush a snare line feels when pumping through a fast roll. A timpanist laying into a final 5 - 1 cadence is enjoying the same satisfaction as a country artist hitting the final crash of a burning country tune. Beyond the musical moments, we all know what it is like to haul your gear around, whether you are tuning drums, assembling marimbas or unloading a truck in a parking lot. Most of all, I am proud and grateful that musicians of all types choose to use Salyers Percussion sticks and mallets.
I may have a unique appreciation for this because of my varied background as a percussionist myself. I played in the school marching band, hair metal band in the 80s, jazz and dixieland bands in the 90s, played with professional and semi-professional orchestras, did a summer tour with a military band, dozens of church timpani jobs, became a university percussion teacher, taught a drum corps, published some music, got a few degrees in music and I work regularly with drummers from every imaginable genre. In a typical week I will talk with touring drummers, middle school teachers, orchestral players, jazz vibe players, college teachers and middle school band directors. Just this weekend I had the pleasure of giving a tour of our facility to this great bunch of percussion students from Baines Middle School in Sugar Land, TX.
I would like to say thank you to all the drummers who will be letting Salyers Percussion be a little part of their music. Whether it is punk icon, Richie Ramone, Mark Sherman while he tours the world playing jazz or teaching at Juilliard, Ken Broadway at the University of Florida, Tyler Henderson doing the "Watermelon Crawl" on tour with Tracy Byrd, Kirk Gay playing timpani with the orchestra or the students from Baines Mididle School working on their solos for contest. It is all drumming from the heart and I am proud that I get to work with drummers from every walk of life. Drum on!!